A unique custom of the Zulu people in Africa--a young girl verifies a virgin and receives a "virgin certificate"
The Zulu people are a ethnic group in Africa, mainly living in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. In South Africa, the Zulu are the most populous race. The eyes of Zulu children are particularly big and bright. The skin of Zulu girls is healthy, shiny, and has a charming luster. As for Zulu men, they constantly show their heroism. The Zulu people, who call themselves "Tianmin", are the most dazzling one in this colorful country and the most populous among the nine black ethnic groups in South Africa.
In the Zulu language,"Zulu" means heaven, so the Zulu people also call themselves "Tianmin". They enjoy a certain degree of autonomy and have their own way of life. Nowadays, the Zulu people have gradually integrated into the city, but many habits have not changed. They still maintain the tradition of polygamy. The current President of South Africa, Zuma, is a Zulu. Although the fact that he has multiple wives has always been controversial, the Zulu people believe this is a symbol of wealth and courage. However, marrying a wife requires enough betrothal gifts. Today, cows are still a must-have betrothal gift for marriage. Marry a wife earns more than a dozen cows.
Zulu women in South Africa, especially before marriage, do not wear a top according to traditional customs, and the lower body is also made of small pieces of animal skin to cover it slightly. However, modern Zulu costumes are also very trendy and fashionable. The decorations on the bottom have evolved from simple animal skins to fashionable animal skins and hand-knitted bead strings.
Beading craftsmanship is an important part of Zulu women's lives and is passed down from mother to daughter from generation to generation. Unmarried girls wear no clothes on the upper body and keep short hair. After getting married, you should cover your entire body, and your chest should be covered with a beaded top or bra. If a girl is engaged, she must grow long hair or customize a special top to cover her breasts to show respect for her future husband's family.
In South Africa, AIDS is a major disaster. In order to prevent the spread of AIDS and make women self-respect, the Zulu people resumed the tradition of verifying virginity more than a decade ago. This tradition has been recognized by most people and has become popular in South Africa. This verification of the virginity is an ancient Zulu ritual.
A young girl of fifteen or sixteen years old with a radius of dozens of kilometers came to a specific place on a specific day and lay on her back side by side on a straw mat spread on the ground to be examined by elderly women of the same ethnic group. It is said that these elderly women have undergone certain professional training and know how to identify complete hymen. This is a solemn ceremony. This is an absolute "country of daughters". All men, including little boys, are not allowed to enter. All verified virgins will be smeared with a little mud on their forehead, and then these marked girls will queue up to receive a "virgin certificate". The virginity certificate is a symbol of purity and beauty and a "chastity archway" for these girls.
The ritual of verifying the virginity originated from the Zulu people's sacrifice to the "Chu Goddess". The Zulu people believe that if the goddess does not receive the respect she deserves, she will attack mankind with natural and man-made disasters. Human beings, especially women, must remain virgins if they ask for her blessing. With the changes of times, this ritual has been lost. Nowadays, the retro trend of verifying virginity is once again blowing because some people believe that women must be self-respecting. The marriage tradition of the Zulu people is polygamy, and the status of women does not receive the attention it deserves. As a result, some women have a lack of concept of chastity, and the number of unmarried mothers increases. The phenomenon that children only know their mother but not their father continues unabated.
The Zulu people attach great importance to chastity, but modern Zulu girls often get pregnant before marriage, which makes the Zulu king anxious. He believed that Zulu men were the main culprit for girls getting pregnant, so he ordered the virginity of unmarried young men to be checked and punished if they were found not to be virgins. As for how to check, the Zulu King's judgment criterion was to let the boy urinate in public. If the height of the pee spray reaches or exceeds the top of his head, he is a virgin, otherwise he must have tasted the forbidden fruit.
